Cars We Remember: The Christmas lights, then and now

Greg Zyla More Content Now

Monday

Dec 18, 2017 at 12:07 PMDec 18, 2017 at 1:14 PM

Growing up in south Jersey, notably Vineland, N.J., there was no better time of the year than Christmas season, especially the lights that adorned the main downtown Landis Avenue. In this the merriest of time of the year, Landis Avenue was and still is a highly lit up four-lane wide thoroughfare that served as the nightly cruise center thanks to its over two mile, each way cruise length.

The ritual of cruising Landis Avenue during Christmas always added an extra touch thanks to the city’s spectacular lighting display. City workers attached (and still do) strands of lights perhaps 20 feet apart spanning lengthwise across the 100-foot wide avenue. The hundreds and hundreds of light adornments made for some grand memories of how the Christmastime season made everything all the better for those who loved cars and cruising.

To us car buffs, it comes as no surprise that lighting makes any car look better. Yet nothing compared to the brilliance of nighttime cruising during the Christmas season in Vineland. Adding to the motif were the countless stores along the main avenue, all adorned in their own Christmas lighting displays from “The Spot” pizzeria and “The Elite” hangout on the East side of town to “Jack’s Toyland” midway along that led to the “boulevard” railroad tracks. Further down on the west side sat the large Sears & Roebuck, always dressed for the season in large decoration style.

Once you passed Sears, it led to the perfectly positioned “circle” that made turning around at Delsea Drive and coming back along Landis Avenue to East Avenue all the easier. You would also pass the numerous diners like Jim & Larry’s and the Circle Diner and car dealers like Yank Chevrolet and Glauser Dodge, likewise adorned in holiday harmony.

Although most of us car cruisers knew the holiday lights made everything seem better, most of us took it for granted never thinking that one day in the future, the actual Christmas celebrations would be challenged by political correctness. We were perhaps overly concerned with the cleanliness of our Chevelle, Mustang Fastback, Roadrunner or even an altered wheelbase ’55 Chevy.

As we look back from the window of Christmas season 2017, most of us wish we could relive those wonderful holiday nights regardless of whatever hometown we lived in. For sure, there are countless Landis Avenue Christmas light stories in every city USA.

Perhaps “taking for granted” is the message of this week’s holiday theme column. I know from experience things have drastically changed in our country as we move quickly to the year 2018. Nothing ever stays the same they say, except for those great muscle and collector cars many of us own. Perhaps that’s part of the reason car collecting is so popular.

From my rear view mirror, things were better in that 1960 era, although racial and war protests were certainly noteworthy. And even though the 1960 era was a decade of resistance and change, a new band of youths that promoted peace and music more so than destructive conflict emerged with historical prominence. Today, we are the nostalgia hungry baby boomers, be it flower child in a VW Bus to a drag racer ready to make a quarter-mile pass in a 1969 Dodge Super Bee.

The one thing back then most everyone agreed on and never questioned was Christmas … still a national holiday celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. Back then, cities across the country proudly displayed the Nativity, many with live animals at certain times of the season. The high school Christmas plays were filled with cheer, and be it parochial or public school, the birth of our Lord was proudly celebrated in Christmas carols and Nativity scenes as part of the annual Christmas plays.

As for the homes of my teenage friends, they were always decorated inside and out. It was growing up in Vineland where I learned of Hanukkah, the Menorah and other ways of celebrating special religious times of the season. The families that celebrated Hanukkah complimented the many Christmas tree decorated homes I visited, even if the latter had those fake silver trees with electric powered color wheels that were prevalent. As for food, everyone was in for a treat visiting family and friends when the holidays came around regardless of religious affiliation, which stays the same to this day.

Today, I’m happy that most of the major retail stores allow their employees to say Merry Christmas again. It wasn’t that way for many a year thanks to “political correctness.” Luckily, I now live in a nice small town that celebrates Christmas the good old fashioned way and I appreciate it very much.

I will always love the lights, driving the neighborhood looking at decorations, the Christmas movies like “It’s a Wonderful Life” to “A Christmas Story,” and all the good will feelings that people can actually feel deep inside. To those who don’t feel the Christmas spirit, you might want to catch a showing of Charles Dickens “A Christmas Carol” on television.

Regardless of era, and to those who will always believe in this most special time of the year, have a very Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and a Happy New Year.

— Greg Zyla writes weekly for More Content Now and other Gatehouse Media publications.